An air cleaner is a device that uses electrical voltage of positive polarity to ionize, or electrically charge, air molecules, which are causes to adhere to a collector member. Most commercial air cleaners are designed to generate negative ions, which are de-ionized by seeking electrodes of opposite polarity or earthed conductors, such as walls and ceilings.
Air cleaners in the prior art are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,217 to Ebert, U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,300 to Knudson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,999,964 to Carr, U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,306 to Burnett et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,299 to Savell, U.S. Pat. No. 7,595,030 to Joannou, U.S. Pat. No. 7,785,404 to Leng et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,795,601 to Wiser et al.; U.S. patent application publication no. 2004/0226445 to Su et al.; and international publication no. WO 2012/125715 to KAZ Europe S.A.
Air cleaners in the prior art, however, fail to completely control the dispersion of air contaminants in the outer environment by allowing some of the contaminants to escape and either remain suspended in the air or adhere to walls and ceilings. Moreover, air cleaners in the prior art produce noise, even when air movement is powered electro-kinetically, without the use of fans.